Antimicrobial susceptibility monitoring of canine and feline skin and ear pathogens isolated from European veterinary clinics: results of the ComPath Surveillance programme.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The ComPath project is a pan-European programme dedicated to the monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility of canine and feline pathogens using standardized methods and centralized minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination. OBJECTIVES: To report antimicrobial susceptibilities of major pathogens isolated from nontreated animals with acute clinical signs of skin, wound or ear infections in 2013-2014. METHODS AND MATERIALS MICs were determined by agar dilution for commonly used drugs and interpreted using Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) breakpoints, if available. RESULTS: Of 1,676 isolates recovered, the main species isolated from dogs were Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, followed by Streptococcus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. In cats, Pasteurella multocida, coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated most frequently. Resistance rates observed for S. pseudintermedius were <26.7% for penicillin, clindamycin and chloramphenicol, and ≤11.5% for ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, cefalexin, cefovecin, gentamicin and fluoroquinolones. For S. aureus, resistance rates ranged up to 90.9% for ß-lactams, and were 19.7% for clindamycin, 27% for fluoroquinolones and 0.0-6.1% for other drugs. The mecA gene was confirmed by PCR in 10.6% of S. pseudintermedius, 11.6% of CoNS and 31.4% of S. aureus isolates. In streptococci/enterococci, resistance to penicillin, ampicillin and chloramphenicol ranged from 0.0% to 11.3%, whereas fluoroquinolone resistance ranged from 0.0% to 8.5%. For E. coli, resistance ranged from 13.8 to 15.9% for fluoroquinolones and from 86.2% to 100.0% for ß-lactams. Low rates of resistance (0.0-6.3%) were observed in P. multocida, and for P. aeruginosa resistance to gentamicin was 10.3%. CONCLUSION: Overall, antimicrobial resistance of cutaneous/otic pathogens isolated from dogs and cats was low (1-10%) to moderate (10-20%). For several pathogens, the paucity of CLSI recommended breakpoints for veterinary use is a bottleneck.